President Donald Trump has apparently had enough of the growing calls to put the brakes on artificial intelligence.
In an extraordinary post on Truth Social, Trump argues that AI does not need the sort of guardrails being proposed by some of the biggest names in the industry. According to the president, the technology needs something much simpler: a “STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT.”
Trump did not stop there. He specifically went after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, accusing him of pretending to be a “perfect little angel,” while claiming his administration has already stopped AI companies from doing bad or potentially bad things.
Then Trump issued what may be the most consequential line in the entire post: “We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies!” That is quite a message coming from the president of the United States. Trump is simultaneously arguing against additional AI guardrails while reminding the companies building the technology that Washington already has enormous power over them.
But underneath all the Trump-style insults and capital letters is an argument that deserves serious consideration: China. “There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China,” Trump wrote. He followed that with an even simpler declaration: “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!” I think he has a point.
Just a couple of days ago, I wrote about Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s argument that we need to pace the AI frontier. I agree with much of the concern behind his position. AI is advancing at an astonishing rate, and pretending there are no risks would be foolish.
But I also argued that you cannot unring the AI bell. The technology exists. The knowledge exists. The competition exists. None of that disappears because American AI companies decide it would be safer to move more slowly.
I am a fierce patriot and a proud American. I absolutely want AI to be developed safely, responsibly, and with appropriate protections for the people who could ultimately be affected by it. What I do not want is safety pursued at the expense of the United States.
If American companies slow down while China races ahead, what exactly have we accomplished? We may reduce certain risks associated with American AI development while creating an entirely different risk: allowing an authoritarian rival to become the world’s dominant AI power. I have a very difficult time seeing that as a safer outcome for Americans or anyone else.
This does not mean Trump is automatically right about everything in his post. The idea that the only guardrail AI needs is a smart president is far too simplistic. Presidents change, administrations change, and artificial intelligence will increasingly operate across companies and national borders. We need rules that survive whoever happens to occupy the White House.
I am also uncomfortable with a president invoking the government’s criminal and regulatory power while publicly attacking the CEO of a specific American company. There is a legitimate policy debate to be had with Amodei without making it sound like Anthropic should fear retaliation from Washington for taking a position the president dislikes.
Still, Trump’s underlying argument about the global AI race cannot simply be dismissed because of the way he delivers it. AI safety proposals that work only when the United States follows them are not enough.
Any serious plan to deliberately slow frontier development needs to answer the China question. How do we know China will slow down too? How do we verify it? What happens when it doesn’t? Without convincing answers, asking American companies to take their foot off the accelerator could amount to handing Beijing an opportunity.
This is ultimately why I find myself somewhere between Trump and Amodei. I share Amodei’s concern about where increasingly capable AI could take humanity, but I share Trump’s concern about what happens if America voluntarily handicaps itself in a technological race that other countries have every incentive to win.
We should make AI safer. We should establish sensible guardrails. We should demand accountability from the companies building increasingly powerful systems. But those protections cannot come at the expense of American leadership.
If Trump is correct that whoever wins AI wins, then the United States needs to make damn sure it doesn’t lose. Safety matters, but so does ensuring the future of artificial intelligence is not dictated to America by its adversaries.
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